DIVERSE INHERITANCE


ACT I
~ THIS GIRL IS NOT WHACKO ~


"Fugaku? What are you doing in sealing?" Minato asked his friend incredulously; it was no secret that he had no talent with the art.
"My cousin is taking the class, and Uncle Teiyaki didn't want her taking a class filled with boys by herself - my dad thought it would be a good learning experience" Fugaku grumbled, slumping into the seat behind his blonde friend.

Another blonde seated next to Minato, one with a long paler ponytail and paler eyes than his seatmate, frowned in confusion.
"What does that make Kushina and Tsume then? Chopped liver?" he asked.

"Uncle Teiyaki is certain that theyre both cross-dressing" he grumbled.
"He's not the only one… did you see what Kushina did to the Hokage mansion last week?" Minato asked, looking somewhere between disgusted and awed.
"Dude, it was impossible to miss it! My old man was in stitches!" Inochi chuckled.
"You sure that wasn't you?" Fugaku asked.

Inochi blushed a shade of light red.

"I honestly don't know what you see in that girl…" Minato grumbled.
"You just don't like her because she's better with ninja techniques than you are" Inochi stuck his tongue out at the blonde boy, and received a blow to the head for his actions.

A loud squall of laughter from the corridor signalled the arrival of their subject and Minato groaned, burying his head into folded arms. Fugaku mad no show of displeasure openly, but had he been looking Minato would have seen the shiver generated by another, equally loud voice.

"God, it's too early for that much noise," Minato grumbled, feeling Inochi dashing from his seat towards the classroom door.

"Kushinaaaa! Minato hit me again!" he pouted to the redheaded girl.
"Don't worry, not like it'll kill you! You need some sense beaten into you sometimes anyway!" a girl with wild brown hair and red triangles on her face grinned.
"Tsume! That's mean!" a pale black haired girl chided.
"Aw, lighten up Mikoto! You're so serious all the time!" Kushina grinned, recovering from her own laughter and giving the blonde boy her usual morning hug.

"I'm not! I just don't think you should make fun of…" she trailed off, sighing in exasperation.

Mikoto wondered why she even bothered trying to explain herself anymore. Her friends were rather incomparably wild compared to her. It was a wonder they were even friends in the first place; she often felt like a peacekeeper of sorts. Leaving her two friends to the company of Yamanaka boy, she walked up to the bench occupied by her cousin. Her eyes strayed for a few moments to the sleepy looking blonde in the desk before, before sliding in beside the black haired frowner.

"I'm really sorry about this Fugaku; I tried talking him out of it but you know how my dad is" she apologized sincerely.

"It's not your fault; my dad was horribly eager as well. I can just look over my illusion notes while I'm here instead" he relied, just as sincerely.

She could feel someone staring at her, and flicked her gaze back to the yellow-haired boy seated on the bench in front. His hair was undeniably blonde, and eyes undeniably blue. They were both too bright to be a trait of the Yamanaka clan though.

He was giving her a curios look, and upon catching her gaze, he jerked in shock before turning his gaze back to the book on sealing. It was a level 7 book, same as hers, and she wondered if he would be willing to go over the level 8 review materials with her; the advancement test was coming up.

She blushed when she realised she was staring - something she did not notice being noticed by Fugaku - and buried her nose in her own book. She would have to look out for him in her other classes; the non-Yamanaka interested her.

"Inochi Yamanaka, Kushina Uzumaki, Tsume Inuzuka, will you three cease your antics and get to your seats!" the teacher roared entering the room.

Mikoto did not get a chance to talk to the blonde for the rest of the lesson; unbeknownst to her, Minato was equally disappointed. Fugaku wanted to murder his friend for validating his uncle's fears, and for being forced into the class in the first place.


Minato had never held much of an interest in girls; plenty were interested in him, but they all had better things to worry about than dating with the third ninja war beginning to rage around the village walls. And in any case, they had irritated him beyond belief.

However, Fugaku's cousin was not like the irritating ones; she was not loudly serious like Kushina or Tsume were, but she had a firm goal. Through sparring practice (in which they had been placed in the same class for), they had gotten better acquainted with each other.

- - - - - - -

He had ventured conversation with Fugaku's cousin after finishing his furious spar with his red-haired rival, hurrying to reclaim his own kunai before the black haired girl finished collecting her own. Her own spar with Fugaku seemed to have resulted in fireballs at some point, judging by the scorches.

The gods seemed to be smiling on him, for she was severely lagging behind the class with collecting the tools of their future trade. She greeted him with a small smile as he grinned, bending to pick up a one of her knives. The conversation ranged from the war, to Inochi's obvious crush on Kushina, before eventually venturing on their goals.

"Eh? You don't have the Sharingan? I thought…" he trailed off sheepishly, picking up the collection of kunai he had dropped.
"I can activate it… it just doesn't work well for some reason. It makes me dizzy, and I end up collapsing after five minuets. I got the memory though!" she smiled optimistically with the last statement.

He maintained eye contact, sensing her explanation was not over, classmates packing up their kunai and shuriken around them.
"Everyone in the clan think's I'll be useless as a ninja, so I'm going to prove them wrong" she finished, picking up the last of her shuriken.

There did not appear to be any left, and they head back to the school building side by side, catching up with their classmates.

- - - - - - -

Her quiet determination reminded him of his own goals; to make his mother eat her words was, albeit, less honourable but it would take as much determination and similarly even more effort. He had a disturbing impression that nothing would meet her expectations.

Throughout their remaining year at the Academey, they were frequent companions - testing the other on the make up and use of seals for their respective advancement tests. Mikoto also kindly acted as a rather strict trainer for his sub-par ninja techniques with the result that he finally trumped her friend in class rankings.

He wasn't quite sure when his well hidden crush developed, but when her she suddenly began to grow, he found himself surreptitiously glaring at the perverts in the classroom; Fugaku found this equally irritating since his uncle was fond of the phrase 'I told you so'.

Thus, when the teams were announced after graduating, he was sincerely hoping to be on the same team as his friend's cousin. Unfortunately, the gods were not smiling on him that day. Much to his and Fugaku's horror, the second team mate of Team 4 was Kushina Uzumaki (she was none too pleased with the arrangement herself).

"You've gotta fucking kidding me!" she groaned, banging her head onto the desk.
"Speak for yourself!"
"This is going to be a nightmare," Fugaku grumbled to himself.

It was not that they did not get along; they were friends of a sort, but Minato and Kushina grated on the others nerves after a certain amount of time passed. They simply were not meant to be on a team together. There would be shouting, headaches, and most likely injuries in their future.

At least their teacher was halfway decent; the toad Sannin already had a long list of accomplishments from the last war, and a few more from the current one.

Mikoto founder herself a member of Team 3 with the younger of the Hyuuga twins (Hizashi), and the boy from the Hatake clan (Sakumo wasn't it?) under the guardianship of Torifu Akimichi. Tsume, much to her horror, was placed in Team 3 with the older stoic Byakugan boy (Hizashi) and the ever-silent Shibi. To her further horror, they were placed under the guidance of Minato's perfectionist mother.

Last was Inochi; he was grouped with the lazy Nara boy, and the eating-machine Akimichi under the female team-mate of Jiraiya. He was openly heartbroken upon learning he would not, as hoped, been placed with the fiery whirlpool refugee. Even worse was their teacher - the short tempered buxom female team-mate of his own team leader, Tsunade Senju.
Team 5 was in for a rough ride in Minato's opinion.

He gave a small wave and a grin to Mikoto as he was dragged out of the room after their own teacher by her fire-headed friend, receiving a smile and a wave in reply.

The introduction to their teacher was short; goals were stated (to be a skilled clan head, making people eat their words, sending Iwa ninjas straight to hell, and the all round consensus of a good stint in the ANBU), likes mentioned (Reading, Gardening, and Salt Ramen), and dislikes voiced (sweet foods, Obsessive people, and Iwa ninjas) before being subjected to a torturous final exam.

For the next few years, their time was filled with training, D-Ranks, training, an odd C-Rank, and more training before the Chunin exams were due to take place in Sunagakure. For those few years, Minato was lucky to catch a glimpse of Mikoto once a week, their schedules and training clashed horribly.

The only time they ever saw each other for a lengthy period was during the seal-level exams. One such exam, a few weeks after Minato's sixteenth birthday, was horrendously difficult for both of them; creating a seal that linked two people was no easy task for the most accomplished of seal masters due to the finicky and detail of the seals required.

The fact that their test subjects were rather hyperactive young puppies was also slightly off-putting - questionable animal welfare aside, it was difficult to write the seals when the adorable young dogs insisted on licking their faces at every turn.

He passed the exam, though it was not without a fashion from his own black retriever puppies, and was more relived it was over than proud he had passed. Mikoto however, was not so lucky; she had managed to write the seals, but the connecting seals within the seal itself were out of alignment thanks to the energy of her baby canines, and se failed.

"I can't believe I messed up on something so easy!" she berated herself, slumping down on the stool beside him.

He had taken her to one of his favourite stalls on the spice merchants' street; exotic stews and soups were always on offer, the war-haggard owner Masashi was always exuberant in welcome and portion. He wasn't that well known, but to Minato it was a hidden gold-mine of a stall.

"It's not that bad, and the exam comes around every two months!" he chided, dipping into his soup - it was tangy and spicy with rice and kidney bean in it. It was supposedly a common dish in desert-swept wind country.

"I know it does, but I still can't believe I made such a stupid mistake after all that effort! I've been studying for this exam for six months already! And I blow it by messing up with something as rank-beginner as connection seals! It's so frustrating! I'll never get into security division without a decent sealing level!" she protested, blowing on her own flatbread wrapped meal; it was a very spicy chicken thing oozing with cheese.

Mikoto had, after some thought, taken an interest in the security division of the ANBU; aside form the usual Anbu missions, they were tasked with sustaining the village security seals and techniques that kept Konoha hidden to enemy villages. It wasn't very exciting, but the skill of the sealers was what had kept the majority of Iwa's forces from finding their village's exact location.

"You're worried about that? Worry about the Chunin exams first! You have to be Jonin before Anbu, and before that, you should worry about the Chunin exams in Suna! Theyre only two weeks away now!" he berated with a grin, waving his (thankfully empty) spoon to make his point.

She blushed and dug into her chicken meal to hide her embarrassment.
"I forgot about that…" she mumbled, trying to ignore the teasing grin on his face.


"I never want to see a single grain of sand again!" Kushina grumbled wearily as the exhausted team entered the hotel the Konoha ninja had rented for the exams.

The exams had been more of a survival test than anything else; three days in the desert trying to keep their token from being destroyed by other teams, getting lost in the multitudes of sandstorms, or eaten by giant sand geckos. The geckos had been no problem, once roasted courtesy of Fugaku, but the sand was another matter entirely; it got everywhere. In clothes, in packs, in hair, in secured water, in roasted geckos, it was a gritty rabies!

"If I could drink to that, I would" Minato replied, traipsing up the stairs in the direction of their room; there was an agreeable grunt from Fugaku.
"If we have to re-take these, we are not coming here to take them! I'd consider Iwa over all this ground up rock!" Kushina growled.
"You think there's going to be another? Two more years and we'll be at loggerheads with Suna too" Minato commented dryly.

They reached their floor with notable breathlessness, opening the door to their room to find three awaiting figures already occupying it. Inochi was a loud blonde greeting, near suffocating his female team-mate with Tsume (who was only slightly less exuberant). Mikoto greeted them with a calm smile and a large bandage on her upper left arm.
Fugaku raised an eyebrow as his blonde team-mate turned a shade paler.

"I got bitten by one of those giant geckos! Torifu-Sensei said they didn't even have teeth!" she complained, her voice raising barley an octave; Mikoto never shouted.
"One of them spat at Kushina; she tried blowing it up, but Fugaku had to use Phoenix Flower Technique on it. Theyre not that bad roasted," Minato commented, grimacing weakly at the memory; Kushina had been far from pleased with that turn of events.

They made small talk, catching up from the last few months of separation eagerly; sealing tests, new techniques, missions (a vehement hatred of the daimyo's errant cockatiel was expressed by both would be Chunin), and training were all discussed.

"I came up with this awesome idea for a technique without hand seals! I haven't got it quite yet though, I don't have good chakra control, so getting the rotation right is proving tiresome" Minato complained, flopping down onto one of the tatami mats.

"Do you want to go practice then? There nothing to do here! Its just sand… and more sand," Mikoto asked, complain at the large amounts of sand with hesitance; she didn't want to offend any listening Suna ninjas, but there was so much damn sand!

Minato considered it; he decided this would be a good idea since he would gain the benefit from a session on chakra control, and he would manage to monopolize time with her, unfortunately, his brain decided on a different kind of activity, and voiced it without consent.

"How about… err, I mean, will you go on a date with me?"

Mikoto's stunned expression was joined by the disbelieving stare of Fugaku, catcalls of 'finally growing a pair!' from Inochi, and various other unwanted attention from his fellow Genin before Mikoto finally smiled, and gave an affirmative nod.


The group of friend waited until the had calmly and professionally filed out of the Hokage's office before delving into delighted howls an whoops of laughter. The reason for their enthusiasm? Promotion from Genin to Chunin. The night was a series of celebratory drinks and what seemed like an infinite number of parties from the other lucky ninja who had also been promoted.

A loud and nearing violent argument between Kushina and Inochi was a dampener on the evening, but the celebrations in general ought weighed the small cloud; it wasn't all that uncommon to see the two arguing lately, they were far too similar for their own good. Both stubborn, loud, and neither was prone to admitting they were wrong. They clearly doted on the other but… they still argued.

The same could be said of Minato and his own girlfriend of six months (their date in Sunagakure had gone very well), but they were not so similar in the ultimately poisonous ways Kushina and Inochi were; where they were both relatively quiet compare to their two friends, Mikoto had more energy in her manner than Minato. Moreover, unlike the two longhaired ninjas, Minato had an idea of when it was time to burry his pride.

However, their relationship was not without its issues; Minato's mother did not care for her son's girlfriend. She was polite, very polite, and not openly hostile to her. It was not the girl herself Koharu found so displeasing. It was her clan that she was so irked by; having married his father purely for the political advantages to herself and future progeny, she wanted no affiliation with what she saw to be a rival clan.

She far preffered Kushina; a refugee girl from one of Konoha's old allies in the war as an addition to the family would do wonders for the public view, and she had no qualms in hinting at that. His father did his best to rein her in - far more open minded than his wife and possessing a greater iota of plain care for thir son's opinion - but he had his limits.

Those limits were made obvious the night before Mikoto was due to leave on her first mission as a team leader during dinner with her parents and five-week-old brother Obito.

The dinner was tense for such an easygoing family - a retired ninja and his wife making a living with their Senbei shop was not usually prone to awkward silences at the dinner table. Mikoto found it particularly unnerving, old enough to realise something important was about to be revealed and that it would not be anything pleasant. She wished she were a baby again like Obito - only concerned with sleeping and eating.

"Miki, the clan elders have issued a contract towards you" her father began warily, not meeting the suspicious look in his daughters gaze.
"What kind of contract?" she asked a sinking feeling in her stomach; she had an inkling as to what kind of contract they were talking about but hoped to god they were joking.
"I'm sure you've heard all the talk amongst the other ninja Miki; the clan elders are getting desperate…" her mother ventured.

Mikoto certainly had heard all the talk; the Sharingan was declining amongst the Uchihas. Only around five others not including herself had the bloodline amongst her own age group, and the majority were unable to activate past the first level being too distant from the main family. It had taken years to get her third tomoe, and she was a direct cousin of Fugaku. Both their fathers were from the main line, and even Fugaku (who had a Sharingan-mother as well) had taken some time to activate his own Sharingan.

"The clan elders are under the belief the genes are… being spread out too thin, shall we say?" her father continued, still refusing to meet his daughters gaze.

Meaning that too much non-Uchiha blood was corrupting the bloodline.

"The council is equally concerned, and are insisting something be done about the matter Miki," her mother told her with a deeply apologetic tone, certain her daughter had caught on to what the elders had ordered.

The council?! As in the daimyo's council? That was… the Hokage, his aides, and the Jonin and Anbu commanders and the high members of the daimyo's court! They could not be that worried could they? Koharu's face popped into her mind for a brief moment, but she shook it away; she did not want to jump to conclusions; the woman may not have liked her family name, but she had always been polite. Mikoto could not imagine her egging the decision…

"I'm not doing it! Tell them to find someone else! I already have a boyfriend!" she replied with more vehement gusto than she was usually associated with, usually being applied to Tsume or Kushina.

Her brother seemed to catch the discord between his relatives with her increase in tone, and looked between his family members apprehensively, beginning to fuss in his baby rocker. Uruchi gave her husband a significant look and the man picked his son like a daisy, walking out of the room with him, making a show of raspberry blowing and tickling to capture the boy's attention away form the discord in the kitchen.

"Mikoto, you're the only girl in the clan with the Sharingan who isn't pushing forty or seventy," her mother explained sympathetically.
"So? I'm sixteen; I don't want to get married! And more to the point, I'm not marrying some old guy!" Mikoto protested.

"You won't be marrying some old guy honey"

Mikoto's blood ran cold.

"Then who?"
"Fugaku" her mother informed her.

Mikoto's plate crashed to the floor as she left the table and stormed from the room. Her feet thudded on the steps before the door to her bedroom slammed with a loud crash. Uruchi rested her elbows on the table, pressing her lips to her intertwined fingers; she had known the news would be taken badly, but not once had her daughter been so enraged.

- - - - - - -

"Miki! Miki! You've got to do something!" Tsume called, waving her arms frantically, her faithful recently mono-eared companion at her heels. Mikoto paused outside the entrance to the Hokage offices to allow her friend to catch up.

"What? Is something wrong?" she asked, placing a grimace across her face.
"Inochi broke up with her! She's a mess and I don't know what to do!" the Inuzuka girl complained, shaking her friends shoulders in desperation.

"We all knew this was coming but she looks like one of those weird grass ninja shot her full of poison or something! I don't know what to do with her! We have a mission in two days, but I can't get her out of her bedroom!" Tsume wailed.

The Inuzuka had taken in Kushina when the remnants of the whirlpool ninjas fled to Konoha, and the two had found their personalities an instant match; Kushina was the sister Tsume had never had, so her worry was not unprecedented. Mikoto however, was reminded of the job she had to do before leaving on her mission.

"Oi, Miki! Are you listening?! Miki!"
"Sorry Tsume, but I think you've got to handle this one on your own…" she replied in a daze, walking into the office and closing the door behind her.

"Eh?"

Tsume's confusion would be cleared later that day when her Hyuuga team-mate told her of the juiciest piece of gossip in weeks; the break up of Minato and Mikoto, and Mikoto's clan orchestrated marriage.

- - - - - - -

"Oi, will you get yourself pulled together?" Fugaku growled at his intoxicate team-mate.
"Fugaku! Yelling at him is not going to help! I hardly think he's going to listen to you of all people right now!" Kushina growled, elbowing him in the stomach harshly.

Minato ignored him, much preferring to take a long glug from a lurid purple concoction. Fugaku had been searching for his team-mate for nearing two days now - his mother of all people had turned up on his doorstep asking if he was with them. Fugaku had though this a little stupid given his role in the cause of his cousin's break up with the blonde, but he knew better than to tell Koharu Namikaze (formerly Utatane) that she was an idiot.

Instead, he had offered to search for his team-mate, much to her relief, and had immediately gone to call on his female team-mate to help; if anyone knew what break-ups could do to people it would be her. Her guard-dog had been something of an issue to get past, but she had ordered Tsume to sit and stay herself once she learned Minato was missing (Tsume had avoided mentioning their break up for fear of reminding the red-head of her own).

He was thankful she had now, for the glare Minato had shot him was enough to ruffle even his stiff tail feathers.
"Whaad, yoo wan'?" he slurred, waving the owner of the bar over for a refill.

Fugaku stumped; he was never good with these heart-to-heart things, and the level required was rather large at the moment. He turned a glance towards Kushina, who was already making her way over to the barstool next to her team-mate.

"Oi barman! Gimmie a bottle of sake! I've got wallowing to do!" she voiced, plopping down in the seat next to Minato.
"so Blondie, how ya' holding up?"
"Fucgink shisht Kushnaaa" he drawled, making a grab for his glass of purple liquid.
"Really? Me too! Next drink's on me!"

Fugaku watched in horror as Kushina proceeded to swallow drink after drink and shot after shot before Minato swayed in his seat, and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Thank god for that; I thought he was never going to conk out!" Kushina cried with relief, hoisting one of the blonde's arms around her neck.
"You did that on purpose?! Think about his liver! What if he gets alcohol poisoning from all this?! You know he doesn't drink much!" Fugaku berated, mimicking Kushina and hoisting Minato's other arm around his neck.

"I had to; he needed to wallow in self pity for a while! You wouldn't know about relationships if one came up from behind and bit you in the butt dancing naked and wearing a rice farmer's hat, virgin!" Kushina snapped in reply.

"W-What does that have to do with anything?!" he spluttered, manoeuvring in time with Kushina out of the door to the bar; they were lucky in that it was just down the road from Minato's house (he was heavy).

"I mean, he needs to processes it on his terms before we can kick him back to normal! Why'd you think Tsume was freaking out yesterday? I was doing the same thing. Except I had ramen instead of alcohol. You've never had a girlfriend, so you wouldn't get it!" she replied in a snappish tone - probably the alcohol she had consumed before Minato collapsed talking there.

They had reached the beginning of Minato's street, and headed towards the house itself with a quickened pace.

"How are you still standing anyway?" he asked, grunting as he raised a fist to knock at the door.
"I used that substance purification technique you taugh-"
"Good lord, what on earth was he doing?!" Minato's father cried in horror, opening the door before Fugaku had the chance to knock.

He took the arm Kushina supported from her and helped Fugaku drag him inside the house as Kushina explained where they had found him. She was quick to notice the alarmed look on his mothers face as he was carried up the stairs by the two, and frowned at her. She would bet anything this was her fault somehow; she liked Mikoto, but she detested Mikoto Uchiha with a passion.

"Why on earth would he drink himself into a stupor? I though he was more intelligent than that!" the old man grumbled, coming back down the stairs with Fugaku.

Kushina and Fugaku stared at him in surprise.
"You didn't know?" Fugaku asked.

The news was all over the village, and the man was on the council, so there was no way he could not have known about the engagement within the clan.

"No! We haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon!" he growled, slumping down on his sofa and running a weary hand over his forehead.
"Mikoto broke up with him; the clan elders arranged a marriage between us! I thought the council backed it but…"

His eyes widened.

"That was for Mikoto? I didn't think she was an option…"
"There aren't any other girls who have the Sharingan so she was the only option" Fugaku clarified, accompanied by a frowning nod from Kushina.

"We never dealt with any names… I didn't think for a moment… Oh well, I guess that explains it..." the man grumbled to himself.

Neither Chunin missed the suspicious gaze he gave his wife, who was conveniently preoccupied with arranging the cushions on another piece of upholstery.


"I can't believe it! Jonin! Jonin! This is awesome! We have to have a party! Choza, can we do it at your place? Your food is always awesome! Pleeaaase Choza!" Inochi begged his team-mate as the troupe of recently appointed Jonin left the Hokage's office.

The whole year group had been promoted to either Jonin, or Anbu if they so wished, for the decimation of a group of Iwagakure ninjas that had been attacking one of fire country's villages, though much of the work had gone to Minato (his flying thunder god technique was awe inspiring up close).

Inochi, Fugaku, Hizashi, and Tsume had been raised to first rank field medics outside the common ranking system for their own efforts, whilst Shibi, Hiashi, Shikaku, and Sakumo had all silently opted to join the ANBU. Mikoto was finally to join the training for the sealing teams, and Minato and Kushina had decided to remain on the frontlines against Iwagakure and Kirigakure.

"You just want to talk to my sister don't you?" the Akimichi replied exasperatedly.
"Well, yes, but the food is awesome too, right Minato? Minato, oh cripes not again…"

Fugaku turned to look in the direction Inochi had been directing his voice and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach; apparently, his wife had chosen to break the news to Minato first if the sombre expression on both their faces was anything to go by. Minato looked more heartbroken than he had for months; it was quickly covered though.

He picked up Mikoto in a hug and whirled her around laughing his head off before letting her down; she looked somewhat green, and descending on him with a teasing grin on his face.

"Why the hell didn't you say something earlier Fugaku?!"
"I figured I'd let Mikoto handle it…" he replied absently, his mint thinking something completely different to the words he voiced ('because I didn't want you to look like that dumb ass').

"Why didn't he say what?" Shikaku asked, attention dragged away from his own girlfriend

Before Minato could answer, there was an outcry of loud squealing from the girls some distance behind them, Inochi's sister Yoshino (Shikaku's girlfriend) making enough noise to momentarily match that of Kushina and Tsume. Fugaku did not miss the flinch in his friends eyes at their exuberance.


"Mind if I join you?"

Minato looked up to find his red-haired team-mate standing beside him with a lurid green drink in hand. She wobbled slightly, a sign that the alcoholic contents of the glass were affecting her. Minato nodded, taking a drink from his own glass. As much as he wanted to be happy for his team-mate and old (he couldn't quite bring himself to say Ex) girlfriend, he was having a miserable time.

"This completely sucks, doesn't it?" Kushina asked, leaning onto his shoulder lazily after seating herself on the sofa next to him.
"What does?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her words.
"That!" she waved her hand towards Inochi, who was hovering near a table on the other side of the room; seated at the table was Choza's sister, Choko.

Ah. That explained the drink then. After her own split, she had mentioned Choza's sister in a less friendly light than before, and the relation between the two friends had been noticeably strained. Apparently, his closeness with the female Akimichi was the source of a great majority of their arguments previously.

"I'm happy for them and all, I really am! But it makes my teeth ache watching them!" she grumbled.
"Preaching to the choir Kushina; you think I'm happy? I can't believe she's already pregnant… I though they wait a while longer for that… her careers gone up the spout now!" he muttered equally lowly.

"The elders don't care about her career, what they want is more Sharingan users. She complained about it a lot; said once she'd made Jonin they wanted her to quit being a ninja" Kushina revealed, equally displeased.

"Gits"

Kushina responded by clinking her glass to his and taking a long gulp. Un-noticed in their increasing stupor were the glances from their team-mate and his wife.


Minato groaned, and pulled the covers back over his head when morning sunlight burned his eyes; a raging hangover hung over his head mockingly, and the usually early bird retreated form the light as much as possible. As he buried under the covers he became aware of someone else sprawled on the other side.

Groaning from the need to embrace burning sunlight and the implications of someone else occupying his bed, he raised his head above the covers to catch a glimpse of his sudden bed mate. Fore one brief moment, he'd hoped he'd woken up form a bad dream, and it was Mikoto once again, but any lingering desires were dashed by the bright red birds nest.

He fell out of the bed right there and then.

"…the hell?" Kushina groaned, woken from her slumber by the loud crash of his fall.

She seemed to notice her unfamiliar surroundings, and drew the covers around her as she sat up, searching the room for something that looked familiar. She finally settled her gaze on the groaning blonde on the floor and slapped a hand to her face.

"Oh, this is just typical isn't it?" she asked rhetorically.
"Be glad I moved out; my mother would have had a field day," Minato groaned, still couched on the floor cradling his injured and hung-over head.

Kushina couldn't find any argument with his words, but things were going to be awkward during their weekly team meetings for a while. She couldn't imagine lunch with the guy she had drunkenly slept with and the guy who'd gotten his ex-girlfriend pregnant would be all that fun.

Really, it was bad enough watching Fugaku and Minato dodging each other without dodging Mikoto herself, without avoiding Minato and avoiding Fugaku's questions of why she was avoiding the blonde.

Minato pulled his boxers from the pile they had been dropped on the previous night, and did his best to pull them on without falling over. Apparently, he was still under the effects of all the drink he had consumed the night before, because he was rather unsteady on his feet. He considered how awkward thing would be for a moment before coming to a decision.

"Kushina, do you want give this a try, like, seeing each other?" he asked.

Kushina raised an eyebrow.
"I dunno, why?"

He scratched the back of his head.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to keep trailing after Mikoto, its not right, and I need to get over it - it's been four years since we split, I love her, but I want to move on with my life" he replied, finally getting the words out.

Kushina considered it; what he said made sense, and reflected her own situation with Inochi somewhat. Perhaps it was time to move on with her life, and Minato would not be that bad a person to move on with. He was a good ninja, had some decent looks, and now that they had matured she had a greater appreciation for his rational demeanour against her own relatively volatile one.

Being on the same Genin squad meant they were often put together on missions as Chunin, and she knew him well enough to have a relationship that classified as functional (a huge contrast to her dysfunctional one with Inochi). Tsume would be happy, had her parents been alive they would be happy, and there was no question that Koharu would be happy.

"I guess we can give it a try," she conceded with a grin.

- - - - - - -

They had been dating for three months when Kushina found herself vomiting into the kitchen sink of the apartment in the Inuzuka compound she shared with her adoptive sister. Tsume instantly shrieked in alarm upon walking into the kitchen, and insisted on giving her a medical check despite the redhead's protests.

After a brief observatory technique, she frowned. Nothing was specifically wrong with her, but she couldn't be throwing up for no reason. There was no chance of her having consumed bad food either, for Kushina was horribly paranoid of food poisoning and threw out anything that smelled remotely iffy (which it usually was not, much to Tsume's irritation).

"Tsume there's nothing wrong with me; there's just a possible almost certainty that I could be slightly pregnant" Kushina said placatingly.

Tsume nodded, glad for a sensible explanation.

"Oh! That makes much more sen- Wait, You're WHAT?!"


"Hey, Kushina, mind if I steal your husband for a few moments? You can borrow mine!" Mikoto smiled at the newly married pair.

Kushina agreed, winking at Minato before dashing off to dance with her team-mate. Mikoto smiled at her ex-boyfriend as he took hold of her hand and resumed the dance he had been pursuing with Kushina moment before.

"Kushina told me the news; congratulations!" she beamed, and Minato could not help but smile at her delighted face.
"Thanks, it was a surprise but… you look like you're doing well too," he replied, gesturing to her abdomen, now showing her five-month state.

He would never have expected it to be with Kushina Uzumaki (now Namikaze) but he was genuinely happy about impending fatherhood. Kushina for her part, was more nervous but equally happy with the chance to start her family again after the destruction of her own village. It was not what either of them had expected, but they were… at ease with the situation they had found themselves in.

His mother had been ecstatic behind her furious face of family honour and public image, and had pushed the marriage through as quickly as possible, but he had never really cared about his mother's opinion on his love life too much (what a mistake that had been).

"Thanks. I'm… I'm glad you've got someone Minato. I was really worried about you, you know. I though you were going to turn into that guy opposite you who chases little kids of his lawn with blunted shuriken!" she joked.

The past four years had put a distance where closeness had once been, and he didn't notice the lie hidden behind the soft grin. He was equally adept at the art, and she similarly missed the stab her words caused.

"Aw come on! I wasn't that bad!" he joked.

- - - - - - -

On the other side of the dance floor, their spouses sighed with frustration.

"Damn it! I thought that would work!" Kushina growled.
"I didn't expect much but honestly… those two are too stupid for their own good sometimes!" Fugaku agreed.


I decided to post the back story as a separate fic; I don't want It Cloggering up ADG. Part II will also be posted as a separate story. This particularly story goes fairly quickly, since I don't want to spend too long on it. It'll be about four chapters altogether.

Kushina's food poisoning aversion is my own; I can eat raw cake mix, raw super noodles, but if something even looks the slightest hint green, or smells slightly different, I throw it out. I don't understand it since there are raw eggs in cake mix and that just screams salmonella.

It drives my mother up the wall since I can throw out milk that's was bough two days previously (It doesn't matter if the date says it's still eddible; if it looks or smells funny, it goes in the bin, down the toilet or on the fire).

Oh Yeah, i have a question for all you lovley reviewers.

I've said before that I have a few obbsesive disorders with ItaNaru and such, yes? Ok, good.

I'm looking for this one fic I read yonks ago; it was a one-shot and team seven was on a mission somewhere when Itachi paid Naruto a visit. lemon ensues, but Sasuke overhears the whole thing cause he's room-sharing with Naruto. Basic jist. It was the first one I ever read and I've been hooked since, but I can't find it!

I've looked through the archives about three times now and damn it, i cant find it! So if anyone can give me a link or directions (an author name would be particularly appreciated), then I may just love you forever. Screw cookies, I'll write whatever twisted one-shot comes into your head, I'll even try a yaoi lemon. I just really want to find that fic! It was awesome!

Hope you liked this first chapter!
Nat
xxx